Page 127 of Wounded King

"First smart thing he's done in years," Stephano mutters, rubbing a hand down his jaw. "Mine's still playing both sides. Pretends he's loyal to Edoardo, but I've put some feelers out to my sources in Venezuela. He's got cash going offshore there. Lots of it."

"Venezuelans again?" I don't like how they keep popping up everywhere out of the sudden.

"Same network Matías came from," Stephano says. "Only bigger. Cleaner. These aren't your run-of-the-mill street gangs; these fuckers are building something."

"Something?" Toni wants to know, leaning back on one of my couches.

Stephano nods. "Shipping routes. Shell companies. Private security contracts. All backed by blood money. They're laundering through oil and tech."

I exhale slowly, "And Edoardo's involved?"

Enrico speaks up. "There's chatter. Quiet meetings. A few Venezuelan names showing up on guest lists they shouldn't be on. If he's not taking a cut, he's protecting someone who is."

Toni looks thoughtful, "What's the endgame? Replace the old families with a new power structure?"

"No," I say automatically as things become clearer to me, "Replace the families withonefamily."

The room falls silent as each one of us works through my words. It's a fact that Edoardo has repeatedly announced that he wants to ring in a new era. It just hadn't occurred to me that he might want to get rid ofus, just like we want to get rid of him. My words hang in the room like smoke from a bad fire.

"Edoardo's not smart enough to plan that," Toni points out.

"He doesn't have to be," again I feel the truth in the pit of my gut, "He's just the face."

"And the hand on his back?" Toni digs deeper, before he looks from me to Stephano, then Enrico.

Nobody says her name; we don't need to. But it hangs in the air like a cloud of poison gas would. Donna Margarita. Our Capo dei Capi's mother-in-law. It's the only thing that makes sense. She's been pulling strings for years. She sat herself up in a role of power, controlling Edoardo.

The silence shifts and starts to grow heavy. I watch Enrico finish his drink in one swallow. Stephano is the one to break it. "She's playing a long game. If we don't move first?—"

"She'll burn us all," I finish for him.

Toni agrees. "So we move."

"Not yet," I decide. "Not until I know exactly what she's hiding. And where she buried it."

Stephano leans back, brows drawn. "You think there's more?"

I'm convinced there is. "I know there is."

Enrico tilts his head, frowning. "You mean like blackmail? Insurance?"

I shake my head. I'm still theorizing, but the more we dig in, the clearer things become to me. "Worse, something she doesn't want Edoardo to know. Something that would ruin him if it came out."

Toni questions, "And what makes you so sure she hasn't already used it?"

That one is easy. "Because if she had, he'd be dead by now."

Stephano scrubs a hand over his face. "What the hell did we let into the inner circle?"

"Notwe," Toni corrects. "Edoardo."

Enrico grimaces. "So what do we do?"

I stare out the window while my mind works overtime, "We dig, we find what she's buried. And then we burn it, before it burns us."

Toni raises his glass. "To fire, then."

I meet his eyes, "To war."